In the environment of mobile television (e.g. hand held television) there are several broadcasting techniques. Mobile TV technology offers consumers the chance to enjoy high quality terrestrial digital broadcasts along with voice telephony and Internet access all in a single wireless device. The digital video broadcast for hand-held (DVB-H) broadcasts Internet Protocol (IP) data-casts is an end-to-end broadcast system for the delivery of any type of digital content and services using IP based mechanisms that are optimised for devices with limitations on computational and battery resources.
An inherent part of IP data-cast (IPDC) is that it comprises a unidirectional DVD broadcast path that may be combined with a bidirectional mobile cellular interactive part. IPDC is a valuable platform for enabling the convergence of services from broadcast media and telecommunications demand.
The file delivery method used in the IPDC is based on the File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) protocol. FLUTE delivers contents in files, which may include any type of data (e.g. audio, video, binary, still images, texts, ESG meta-data etc.).
It is possible to access a web server using mobile equipment, for example using WIFI. However, WIFI coverage tends to be very limited and is generally only used in private areas or airports and the like. Although it is possible to connect to a web server using 2.5G or 3G communication means such as GPRS, EDGE or UMTS, it is also necessary to have a subscription which can be expensive and tends to be used by professionals and is not always attractive to the public. New standards are emerging to broadcast TV on mobile equipment (e.g. DVB-H). Some of these standards define means for object transmission.
FIG. 1 depicts a known mobile internet infrastructure 100 and a separated Digital Video Broadcast infrastructure 102. A mobile user may access both TV channels and an internet site using a mobile device 104. TV channels may be broadcast using, for example, DVB-H in Europe. A video source 106 may broadcast using a DVB-H Broadcast Head-End 108 which may include a DVB-H Encapsulation module 110, a DVB-H Streamer or Modulator 112 and an Amplifier 114. A VHF/UHF signal 116 can be emitted by the DVB-H Head-End 108 and received by the mobile device 104. Mobile device 104 may be a GSM phone or a PDA enabled to process DVB-H. In a parallel mode, mobile device 104 may support conventional Web browser capabilities and can receive signals 118 from an access point 120 belonging to a GPRS/UMTS network 122 for example. The GPRS/UMTS network may access the internet 124 by means of a Telco gateway 126. The internet may access a Web server 128 to obtain content for transmission to the user. Web server 128 may also be accessed by means of a non-mobile device, for example a computer 130, which may be connected via a wired line such as PSTN, ADSL, etc.
There are some problems that are encountered with the known systems and methods. Firstly there is a requirement for expensive subscriptions and wireless equipment able to support a communication stack capable of reaching the internet and a separate communication stack capable of receiving broadcast television. A further problem exists in that coverage for internet and TV broadcast are not necessarily equivalent in certain areas, some areas may have coverage of one, some may have coverage of another, and some may have coverage of both or neither.
One object of the present invention is to overcome at least some of the problems associated with known methods and systems using new broadcast transmission mean (Eg: DVB-H) to transmit web objects included in a closed web site and to allow a user to navigate this web site in a broadcast environment without requiring return channel means as well as video services and associated data such as an Electronic Service Guide (ESG).
Another object of the invention is to calculate an object weight to order the frequency and delay with which a web object can be transmitted over the broadcast means.